No Abstract Provided

Companies have limited human, financial and technical resources, which makes it crucial toallocate them in an efficient way in order to stay competitive in today's market. One way of doing this is to classify a company's suppliers into different categories, and differentiate the management of each supplier category. Previous studies within the field mostly focus on larger, manufacturing companies, and there is a lack of segmentation models suitable for retail firms. Further, existing literature on supplier relationship management fail on giving concrete actions on how to manage different types of suppliers. This study addresses this by extending the literature on supplier segmentation and supplier relationship management in the context of a medium sized retail company offering a diversified product portfolio. The study was performed as a case study on a Nordic retail company that produced both private label products and brand named products, where this study focused on its private label suppliers. The purpose of the study was to develop a supplier segmentation model for guidance in managing supplier relationships for retail companies with diversified product portfolios, and this was met by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data through interviews, workshops, structured questions and archival data. The main findings were a number of identified characteristics of the supplier base of the case company and the determination of different types of buyer-supplier relationships. This ultimately culminated into the empirical contributions of 1) a developed supplier segmentation model suitable for medium sized retail companies offering a diversified product portfolio, and 2) recommended actions on how to manage suppliers, corresponding to each segment in the model. / Företag har begränsade resurser vad gäller finansiellt, tekniskt och humant kapital, vilket gör det ytterst viktigt att fördela sina resurser på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt för att hålla sig konkurrenskraftiga. Ett sätt att göra detta är att klassificera sina leverantörer i olika kategorier, samt differentiera hur varje kategori ska hanteras. Tidigare studier inom ämnet har mestadels fokuserat på större tillverkningsindustriföretag, och det saknas segmenteringsmodeller som är anpassade för retailföretag. Vidare är befintlig litteratur på supplier relationship management knapphändig i att ge konkreta rekommendationer för hur olika typer av leverantörer ska hanteras. Den här studien adresserar detta genom att utvidga litteraturen på supplier segmentation och supplier relationship management i kontexten av ett mellanstort retailföretag med en diversifierad produktportfölj. Studien genomfördes som en case-studie på ett nordiskt retailföretag som sålde både märkesprodukter och egna märkesvaror, där den här studien endast berörde leverantörer för egna märkesvaror. Syftet med studien var att utveckla ett övergripande ramverk för guidning av hur leverantörsrelationer i retailföretag med diversifierade produktportföljer ska hanteras, och detta uppfylldes genom att samla både kvalitativ och kvantitativ data genom intervjuer, strukturerade frågor, workshops samt arkivdata. De huvudsakliga resultaten var ett antal identifierade egenskaper hos leverantörsbasen av caseföretaget och en bestämd uppdelning av olika leverantörsrelationer. Detta mynnade tillslut ut i två empiriska bidrag i form av 1) en utvecklad leverantörssegmenteringsmodell för medelstora retailföretag som erbjuder en diversifierad produktportfölj, samt 2) rekommenderade handlingar för hur olika leverantörer ska hanteras, som svarar till varje segment i modellen.

This thesis attempts to integrate the three supplier processes- supplier segmentation, supplier selection/evaluation and order allocation- based on a case study of a white goods manufacturer. These processes are dealt with in a hierarchical manner, where the decisions at an earlier stage (supplier segmentation) may affect on the results of later stages (supplier selection/evaluation and order allocation). Based on a wide set of variables gathered from the supplier segmentation literature and from the framework developed by the case company, a factor analysis is performed. The resulting eight factors (complexity and criticality, supply market dynamism, supplier&rsquo / s economic dependence, buyer&rsquo / s supplier dependence, uncertainty, supplier capabilities, supplier&rsquo / s specialization to white goods manufacturer and possibility of harm to user) are used for clustering analysis with the K-means method. Three different clustering schemes (4-clusters, 8-clusters, and 18-clusters) are analyzed to see the effect of number of clusters on the cluster means. A supplier selection model is constructed by the PROMETHEE method as was done in a former study at the same company. Two different scenarios are considered in the supplier selection phase: First, data from the former study are kept as they are. The second scenario considers a change of criteria weights. As a result, the qualified suppliers were found to be the same in both scenarios, but the rankings and net flows, which were inputs to the order allocation model, changed. The effects of these changes were discussed at a conceptual level, due to a lack of case data for the order allocation model.

Supply chain management is a complex process requiring the coordination of numerous decisions in the attempt to balance often-conflicting objectives such as quality, cost, and on-time delivery. To meet these and other objectives, a focal company must develop organized systems for establishing and managing its supplier relationships. A reliable, decision-support tool is needed for selecting the best procurement strategy for each supplier, given knowledge of the existing sourcing environment. Supplier segmentation is a well-established and resource-efficient tool used to identify procurement strategies for groups of suppliers with similar characteristics. However, the existing methods of segmentation generally select strategies that optimize performance during normal operating conditions, and do not explicitly consider the effects of the chosen strategy on the supply chain’s ability to respond to disruption. As a supply chain expands in complexity and scale, its exposure to sources of major disruption like natural disasters, labor strikes, and changing government regulations also increases. With increased exposure to disruption, it becomes necessary for supply chains to build in resilience and robustness in the attempt to guard against these types of events. This work argues that the potential impacts of disruption should be considered during the establishment of day-to-day procurement strategy, and not solely in the development of posterior action plans. In this work, a case study of a laser printer supply chain is used as a context for studying the effects of different supplier segmentation methods. The system is examined using agent-based modeling and simulation with the objective of measuring disruption impact, given a set of initial conditions. Through insights gained in examination of the results, this work seeks to derive a set of improved rules for segmentation procedure whereby the best strategy for resilience and robustness for any supplier can be identified given a set of the observable supplier characteristics.

Syfte – En förstudie på fallföretaget identifierade ett problem som ledde till att syftet och frågeställningarna formulerades. Studien syfte innebär att undersöka hur underhåll av en leverantörsrelation kan påverka ett speditörföretag. För att svara på studiens syfte har det brutits ner i två frågeställningar: Hur arbetar ett speditörföretag med sina leverantörsrelationer? Vilka är möjligheterna till att förbättra en leverantörsrelation? Metod – Studien är genomförd som en fallstudie med enfallsdesign. Empiri är insamlat med intervjuer, dokumentstudier och litteraturstudier. Litteraturstudien utgör grunden för studiens teoretiska ramverk som innehåller teorier inom leverantörssegmentering, interaktionsmodellen, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) och Key Account Management (KAM). Resultat – Studiens resultat innefattar att underhåll av leverantörsrelationer med hjälp av leverantörssegmentering, interaktionsmodellen, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) och Key Account Management (KAM) på ett fördelaktigt sätt bidrar till ett bra underhåll av leverantörsrelationer och förbättringsmöjligheter till tätare relationer. Implikationer – Med hjälp av befintliga teorier inom relationshantering bidrar studien med att underhålla och förbättra leverantörsrelationer. Studien riktar sig emot ett mindre utforskat område för transport- och speditörföretags underhåll och förbättringar av leverantörsrelationer. Begränsningar – Studien är utförd enbart på ett speditörföretag vilket begränsar studiens generaliserbarhet vilket påverkar studiens resultat. Studien har inte tagit hänsyn till kostnader för implementering för förbättringsåtgärder i arbete för bättre relationer samt att leverantörens synvinkel inte är undersökt. / Purpose – A pilot study at the case company identified a problem that lead to the purpose and research questions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how maintenance of a supplier relationship can affect a forwarder company. To answer the study's purpose, it has been broken down into two research questions: How does a freight forwarding company work with its supplier relationships? What are the opportunities to improve a supplier relationship? Method - The study is conducted as a case study with one-case design. Data is collected with interviews, document studies and literature studies. With the literature study, the basis for the study's theoretical framework contains theories in supplier segmentation, the interaction model, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Key Account Management (KAM). Results - The study's results include that maintenance of supplier relationships by means of supplier segmentation, the interaction model, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Key Account Management (KAM) in a beneficial way contributes to good maintenance of supplier relationships and improvement opportunities for closer relationships. Implications - Using existing relationship management theories, the study helps to maintain and improve supplier relationships. The study targets a less explored area for transport and freight forwarding companies' maintenance and improvements in supplier relationships. Limitations - The study is conducted only at one freight forwarding company which limits the generalizability of the study which affects the study's results. The study has not taken into account the costs of implementation for improvement measures in work for better relationships and that the supplier's point of view has not been examined.